More than half of the Alberta Liberals’ constituency associations — along with a handful of Wildrose’s associations — were dissolved Wednesday in a crackdown by the province’s new chief electoral officer.

Elections Alberta deregistered 53 Liberal and three Wildrose constituency associations because they missed the March 31 deadline to file their annual financial statement for 2013.

Elections Alberta spokesman Drew Westwater said the move means the constituency associations “do not exist” and are unable to receive contributions or issue tax receipts, although they can re-register with proper financial statements.

Liberal Leader Raj Sherman downplayed the significance of the deregistration, which he chalked up to an “administrative, clerical error” by his party’s central office.

The majority of the Liberal associations that were deregistered list party president Todd Van Vliet as the riding’s president, but Sherman maintains the Grits continue to have a local presence.

“Our constituency associations, we’re currently in the process of rebuilding many of them,” he said.

“And many of them now are alive and well.”

Wildrose party president Dave Yager said two of the party’s constituency associations were penalized because of problems with paperwork dating back to the 2012 election but he had no explanation why Little Bow — which has a sitting Wildrose MLA in Ian Donovan — did not submit its annual report.

“It’s embarrassing,” Yager acknowledged in an interview. “In the long run, obviously it’s not the end of the world . . . we’ve got some hoops to jump through.”

Westwater said new chief electoral officer Glen Resler, who was appointed last year, is taking a tougher approach on timelines than his predecessor, Brian Fjeldheim.

“We’re giving them fair warning and advice prior to the deadlines that have been established, but Glen is of the opinion that if they miss the deadlines then we’re going to take action on them,” said Westwater.

Two of the Liberal constituency associations that were deregistered also have sitting Grit MLAs, with Darshan Kang in Calgary-McCall and Laurie Blakeman in Edmonton-Centre.

Blakeman said her constituency association will likely be re-registered by Thursday and she is “not sweating” it because the next provincial election is two years away.

“It’ll be much better going forward, but it’s a good lesson to learn and frankly, I’m really glad that the chief electoral officer clamped down this year and not next year, because this is when we all need to be reminded,” Blakeman said.

The Liberals lost their longtime official Opposition status in the 2012 provincial election and has been struggling with fundraising.

Party financial documents for the first quarter of 2014 show the Liberals finished fourth in fundraising among the four parties in the provincial legislature, taking in $79,905 in donations.

Sherman donated $15,000 — the maximum allowed contribution — of that total. The NDP — which has four seats — raised $123,397.

As previously reported, the Wildrose party won the first-quarter fundraising fight, raking in $891,418 while the governing Progressive Conservatives had $769,800 in donations.

Edmonton businessman Stanley Milner was the largest donor to the Tories, giving $15,000.

Wildrose’s biggest contributor was Questerre Energy, which gave the maximum $15,000.

The Wildrose touted its success among small donors though, noting it had received $411,332 from individual contributions under $250. In contrast, the Tories took in only $47,405 from donations under $250.

However, the PCs also point to a massive lead in fundraising by constituency associations, where they took in $233,108 last year.

With files from Mariam Ibrahim, Postmedia News

jwood@calgaryherald.com

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